stevetheangler

Friday 23rd May 2014, and I had intended an early morning start at the tench pool… but with the alarm going off at 0500 and the light seemingly low I glanced out of the bedroom window to see the sky as grey as it could be without actually threatening to enter into the realms of blackness and rain pis persistentently falling …. And so I went back to bed. Checking the forecast for the day later showed that rain was expected back at around 1300 – which it has – and is to continue until tomorrow (Saturday) evening  – and which it seems to be doing to plan.

So… the trip has now been re-planned for Sunday 25th now when the forecast is for blue skies and bright sunshine all day long. Now you may possibly think that that type of weather would be a killer for tench on a water where 99.9% of it is flat with a depth of 4’6” – and the deepest I’ve ever found with the depth sounder towed on a radio controlled boat is an area of about 1 metre square with a depth of nearly 5’0” – but far from it, the tench there feed all day long almost whatever the conditions.. and last ‘season’ they were still feeding in mid-November when I packed up going there and started my piking period seriously…  and on my return back to the pool at the end of March they were still going at it… and, in fact, since my return they have been almost the only species I’ve caught – the exception being a single bream I caught on my last visit there on May 2nd. AND this despite TRYING to get a perch or two by using only worm, maggot, prawn and mussel as bait – no cereals, etc – and feeding the swim with the same plus dried blood, pulverised cod/basa fish fillets, fish oils and using Chopped Worm, Worm Juice, Bloodworm and Predator Plus dips on my bait.

Well, on Sunday I’ll be going on my first trip of the year to my summer swim in the open water at the opposite end of the pool to that which I fish during Spring/Summer and Autumn and where I fish opposite the end of a small island that lies about 20’-25’ across the water from the bank.

I’ll be trying some minor tackle setups changes out too…

I’ve remade my link leger setup on the leger rod in the hope of preventing the (albeit very few) wrap-arounds I sometimes get… The new system involves a leger bead with snap link (instead of the swivel + link I previously used) and a sheath of plastic straw (the sort you get with the small fruit drink cartons) pushed up over the link to keep it rigidly in place and the lead attached as close to the end of the straw as possible to keep any flex in the length as minimal as possible. …

The float rod change is basically just a change of float I’ve been using. Up to now I’ve used a 5AAA windbeater type float with a cane antenna used lift method style… but in actual fact that float cocks with <1mm of tip showing with a loading of 3SSG + 1AAA (ie is really a 7AAA float). And on top of that I add another 1AAA shot to act as the overload required by the method. However, the problem with this float is that the cane antenna has buoyancy of its own – probably needs 3BB of weight to sink from the whole antenna showing to antenna at water surface level which means that as the float rises then increasingly less of the weight on the line is supported by the float and more by the fish. Ideally, NONE of the weight should be born by the antenna as then as the float rises the amount of weight borne by the float remains constant and the maximum weight the fish should feel while the float lifts until such time that the entire antenna stands proud of the water is the weight by which the float has been overshotted (eg 1BB or 1AAA normally – so chosen to be the minimum to anchor the bait to the bottom and so prevent underwater currents moving float and bait around). And it was to this end I located these floats on eBay at £12 for a pack of 10…..

Rated at 4AAA, and having a very fine fibreglass type antenna with a sight bob to assist visually in the water, it actually lies flat on the surface with a 3SSG shot but with the addition of another SSG then only the very tip of the sight bob shows. But the sight bob does not play part in the actual fishing as when the line is tensioned to cock the float it is only done so until the bottom of the bob touches the surface, or maybe even be slightly proud of the surface. In actual practice, as I use an upline AAA shot above the float to aid line sinking and ease fine tuning when cocking the float – all explained in a previous posting – I think I may need only the usual 1AAA or possibly 1BB below the float as the perfect overshot.

Anyway, the results of these changes should be evident on Sunday’s planned session!!